Electric toy railway track



July 26, 1932. F. OTTENSTEIN ELECTRIC TOY RAILWAY TRACK Filed June 5,1931 Patented July 26, 1932 Unites sr-Arns' FRIEDRICH OTTENSTEIN, FNUREMBEBG, GERMANY ELECTRIC 'roY RAILWAYTRAGK Application filed June 5,1931, Serial No.

In the known switches for toy railway tracks the switch levers arealways unremovably fixed at the side of the switch, so that with anyotherwise possible arrangement of the rails, for instance in the case oflarger point lay-outs for stations andshunting stations, the switchlever becomes a dis turbing constructional element. Furthermore, throughthe fixed arrangement of the switch leversthe known points form large,bulky pieces. I

These disadvantages are overcome by the present invention, which firstlyenables the switch lever to be attached by means of a link member forthe switch operating mechanism in a releasable manner to the support forthe latter at either side of the switch, and secondly enables the switchto be taken apart to such an extent that, assuming symmetrical railsections to be used, a switch may be put together for right-hand or'left hand branches from the same separate parts, with the interchange ofonly a few small replacement pieces.

In the accompanying drawing a constructional example of the invention isillustrated,

v Fig. 1 showing a plan view of the switch,

Fig. 2 the switch inlongitudinal section on line AA of Fig.1,

Fig. 3 the switch operating mechanism according to Fig. 1, as seen frombelow,

Fig. 4 the switch operating mechanism with a signal lamp disposed infront of it in side elevation,

Fig. 5 the switch signal lamp inside elevation,

Fig. 6 a switch tongue in plan view and side elevation, i

Fig. 7 the heel pivot plate for the switch tongue, as seen from aboveand from below, and

Fig. 8 the switch tongue controlling means in detail to an enlargedscale.

Over the supporting structure consisting substantially of a middlesleeper 1 and two T-pieces 2, 3 of U-shaped bent sheet metal suitablypositioned with respect thereto, a curved track branches off from astraight track. The straight track consists of a long straight length ofrail 4 and of two shorter 542,439, and in Germany June 24, 1930.

straight lengths of rail 6, 7 which lie in alignment with the switchtongue 8. The curved their ends inserted inslots (Fig. 7) of solidfitting pieces 16, 17 made of insulating material. The rail pieces 6, 9also each have one end inserted in such A slots, while the other endisheld by clips 14 on the sleepers 12, 13. The fitting piece 16 atthe'same time forms thesecuring member forthe pivoted switch blades 8,11 and for a live rail 18 disposed between them, and also for a wedge-;shaped current conducting tongue 19 disposed within the switch. Theswitch blades 8, 11 are pivoted in cup-shaped depressions 20. of thefitting piece 16 (Fig. 7 in which disc-shaped pins 21 at the heels ofthe blades engage (Fig.6).

Each of the laterally, extending arms of the T-piece 2 is adapted to beconnected by a screw connection22to a sleeper-like extension 23. On thisextension 23 twobearingpedestals 2 (Fig. 4:) are disposed. between whichis journalled on a shaft 25 a two-armed switch lever 26, the upper armof which carries a disc-shaped weight 27. while the'lower arm extendsthrough a slot- 28in the extension23 (Figs. 1 and 3) and is connected toa link 29 dis'posedin the interior of the sleeper extension 23; Thelink29 has aU-shaped crank 30 (Fig. 3) and is pivotally connected to a leverarm 31 adapt ed to swing within the T-piece 2. The limbs 30a, 30b, ofthe crank 30 act as stops for a pin 32 of a switch signal lamp 33 (Figs.1, 3.; '5). The lamp 33 is provided with a plvot pin 34 whichis mountedin the web ofthe extension 23.- The stoppin 32 extends through anarcuate slot 35 extendlng around the hole of the pivot pin34, which slotis of such a length that the lamp 33 can be turned through 90. The leverarm 31 forms part of an arrangement of crossed levers capable of turningabout a pin 36 fixed in the T- piece 2 (Figs. 3 and 8), the arms 37, 38of which form a straight line with each other and lie at right angles tothe arm 31, while the short arm 39 which is provided with a centralelongated slot 40 forms an extension of the arm 31. To the ends of thearms 37 and 38 arms 41, 42 are pivoted, which latter arms each extendthrough. an. opening'in the ad,- jacent side walls of the T-piece 2 andeach have a helical compression spring 43-, 445 slipped over them. Thehelical springs 43, 4A bear at one end ag'ain'st'tlie pivot connection'of thepivoted arms and at the other end against the side walls of the Tpiece 2 and, through being stressed,.impart to the crossed leverarrangement '31, 37,38, 39. such atorque that the crossed leverarrangement remains each time in the position into which it has beenrocked. Into the slot 40 (Figs. 8, 3.) of the arm 39 there extends theoperating pinaa of av coupling bar 46 made. of insulating material whichforms a parallel. uide for the switch blades 8 and 11 The said bladesare connected to the bar 46. by bolts l8 which are guided in slots 47 inthe T- piece: 2.

Theswitchis manipulated and acts in the tollowing manner:

When the switch. is in the position shown 11L Fig. 1 the straight piece015 track. a isclear and the branch 5: is blocked. When. the branch lineis to be cleared and the straight track is to be blocked, the switchlever 26 is-rocked. intothe position B shown in Fig, 4 in dot and dashlines- This causes: the link 29 to be pushed fiurther into the armextension 28' and the crossed lever arrangement 31, 37,38, 39 to bemoved: into the position C shown in broken lines in Fig. 3'. The limb30a strikesagainst the stop pin 32 of the laanp forcinthe said pinagainst the other end of the arcuate slot. 35,th uscausing the lamp 33to be turned through 90 into the position D shown in dot and dash. linesin Fig. Through the change over ot the crossed lever arrangement thecoupling bar 46 is also displaced and the switch blades 8, 11 arechanged over in such a. manner that the curved track,.that is-the branch5,.becomes clear. During the change over of the crossed leverarrangement the compression springs 43, 44 are stressed until the. arms-37, 38 and i the switch piece in the manner shown, as for instance thereis some obstacle at a place at which the extension 23 would lie, theextension together with the switch lever 26, the

lamp 33 and the link 29 can instead be fixed to the other arm of theT-piece 2, the link 29 being connected to the lever arm 31 from thisside, as shown in dot and dash lines by E in Fig. 3.

lVhat I claim is:

1. For use at a turn-out of a toy railway track a switch comprisingsupports, switch blades, means adapted to be attached in an easilyreleasable manner on the right-hand orileit-hand side of. the turn-outfor chang ing over the said switch blades, rail pieces and members forfixing the said rail pieces to the supports, so as to be capable ofbeing easily released.

2.. For use at a turn-out of: a toy railway track a switch. comprising asupport, switch blades, means adapted to be disposed on, the right-handor left-hand side of the turn-out for changingv over the said switchblades,

rail pieces,.mcmbers for fixing the said rail pieces to the support, soas to be capable of being easily released, a supplementary part forsupporting the blade change-over means and, means for releasablyattaching the said supplementary part to the support on the right-handor left-hand of the turn-out, so as to form an extension of the supporton one side thereoii, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. Aswitch as claimed in claim 1 and comprising a switch signal lamp, alink member for operating the switch blades andfor turning the signallamp, a rectangular cranked part in the said link member and a stop pinon the lamp adapted to be displaced by two opposite limbs of the saidcranked part, as and for the purpose set forth.

4. A switch as claimed in claim 1. and comprising a bar for coupling theswitch blades, a pin on the said bar, a link member, a crossed leverarrangement having four arms at right angles to one another, one ofwhich is in operative engagement with the link member, a slotted guidetor the saidpin in the arm forming the extension of the aforesaid arm,rocking members pivoted to the ends of the other two arms of the crossedlever arrangement which are at right angles to the two first-named armsand compression springs on said rocking members for securing the wholeswitch operating device in the desired position, as and for the purposeset forth.

name to this specification.

FRIEDRICH OTTEN STEIN.

